Finding great Ontario Cabernet Franc is not that difficult. The same can’t be said for Merlot. Most of the time it is bland. Merlot from Niagara’s Two Sisters and Featherstone Estate are bright beacons for Ontario Merlot. So what about the 2021 Merlot from Riverview Estate Winery? The back label states it has been agedContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: The Great Ontario Merlot Search Continues: Riverview Estate Winery 2021 Merlot”
Author Archives: Robert K Stephen (CSW)
RKS 2024 Travel: Canada Day Cake Parade at Niagara-on-the-Lake
On 1July2024 I had the surreal pleasure of marching in the annual Niagara-on-the-Lake Cake Parade. It has been a Canada Day fixture for some two decades now. Queen Street is cordoned off and several thousand line it. Yes the drums of the 41st Fife and Drum Corps Regiment can be heard way down Queen StreetContinue reading “RKS 2024 Travel: Canada Day Cake Parade at Niagara-on-the-Lake”
RKS Literature: The Waging of the Russian Holy War: The Russian Jihad (Nikolai Gogol)
“It is common knowledge how a war for the faith is waged on Russian soil-no earthly power is stronger than the power of faith. It is insurmountable and ferocious, like a rock rising from the depths of a stormy ocean, fashioned from a single unshatterable mass of stone, towering into the skies, seen from vastContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Waging of the Russian Holy War: The Russian Jihad (Nikolai Gogol)”
RKS Literature: A New Russian Czar Will Spring Forth! (Nikolai Gogol)
“So you thought you caught us, you damn Poles. Do you think there is a single thing in this world that will frighten a Cossack? Just wait, the time will come when you will understand the meaning of the Russian Orthodox faith. Word has already spread through every nation. A Russian Czar will spring forthContinue reading “RKS Literature: A New Russian Czar Will Spring Forth! (Nikolai Gogol)”
RKS Literature: Execution by the Poles of Cossacks: Entertainment (Nikolai Gogol)
“The square on which the execution was to take place was not hard to find: the whole town was streaming there from all directions. In that grim bygone era an execution was considered one of the most engaging spectacles, not only for the masses but also for the aristocracy. Devout old women, matrons and timidContinue reading “RKS Literature: Execution by the Poles of Cossacks: Entertainment (Nikolai Gogol)”
RKS 2024 Travel: Beware of Deer Signage on the Roads: No Joke: Bambi Slaughter!
If you are in Eastern Canada or United States driving on the roadways you see those beware of deer roadside signs but shuffle their significance to the far reaches of the brain. I have never seen a deer on the road in my Canadian travels. In fact the first time I saw any deer nearContinue reading “RKS 2024 Travel: Beware of Deer Signage on the Roads: No Joke: Bambi Slaughter!”
RKS 2024 Wine: Blackboard Merlot from Washington State: A Berlin Wall Merlot?
Many Washington State Merlots are not afraid to have a little bath in oak. It gives Merlot a pleasing to everyone aura. I had a Konstantin Frank Merlot in the Finger Lakes recently and it had a good dose of oak in it. My dining companion, no lover of red wine, enthused about how “approachable”Continue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Blackboard Merlot from Washington State: A Berlin Wall Merlot?”
RKS Travel: That Unplanned Moment May Be the Best: A Glass of Hosmer Riesling on the Shores of Lake Cayuga, Finger Lakes New York
There are certain travellers that plan each moment of a trip. Itineraries are created and checked off like a shopping list. Good planning? Mechanical and unthinking? Perhaps a bit of both. You might say I recently had one very special unplanned moment on Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes District of New York. Some context.Continue reading “RKS Travel: That Unplanned Moment May Be the Best: A Glass of Hosmer Riesling on the Shores of Lake Cayuga, Finger Lakes New York”
RKS 2024 Film: “Devil Put the Coal in the Ground”: West Virginian Tragedy a la Master and Margarita
If you have watched the seminal 1973 American documentary “Harlan County” about a coal miner’s strike in Harlan County, Kentucky you know coal miners are a tough and proud lot and mine owners are ruthlessly if not murderously driven by profits. In “Devil Put the Coal in the Ground” about coal mining in West VirginaContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Devil Put the Coal in the Ground”: West Virginian Tragedy a la Master and Margarita”
RKS 2024 Wine: Villa Teresa Organic NV Prosecco
Aroma: Lemon, lime, peach, mango and honey. Palate: A gentle fizz to the point it resembles a semi-sparkler. Some cantaloupe and pineapple but one expects more fruit with a prosecco than this? Its 11% alcohol makes it a refreshing hot summer day quaff. Personality: I am not assertive evidenced by my scant bubbles and acidity.Continue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Villa Teresa Organic NV Prosecco”
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